"Did you guys sleep at all?" Trudy called out to Paddy and me from behind her desk as we passed by. Her brow was furrowed as if trying to show that she disapproved of us working through the night, but I could clearly make out worry in her voice. "Don't ask them," Lisseth replied before either of us could say a word. "Believe me, we'll all be happy when this day is over." She was right about that last part. I would be more than happy when this day was over. And, much rather, when this case was over. There was no way I would find peace for even just a minute until it was.
The vehicle our suspect had been driving was parked in front of the address it was registered to, and when we arrived, LaRoyce and Marina where already there as well. Tracy had told us that Jason wouldn't come since he was caught up in a meeting with some officials, but that he said we should just go ahead and do whatever we thought was right.
Getting out of the car and pulling my gun, I thus motioned for LaRoyce and Marina to cover the back of the building, while Paddy, Lisseth and I made our way up the front stairs and positioned ourselves next to the door. "Ready when you are," Marina reported over the radio, and I nodded at Lisseth to go ahead. She banged on the door. "Julie Spencer? Chicago PD, open up!"
To our surprise, the door opened after a moment and revealed a woman in her twenties, who looked scared at being faced with several guns pointed at her. "You alone?" I asked, trying to glance past her into the hallway. She nodded. There was no way we could be sure, however. We had to be cautious.
"Go inside," I instructed. "Keep your hands where I can see them." I guided her to the nearest wall and made her place her hands up against it while Paddy and Lisseth moved past us and started clearing the house.
Once I made sure she wasn't carrying any weapons, I allowed Julie to walk down the hall to her living room, where I noticed pictures of her friends and family. She didn't look like a terrorist, and her place didn't look like a terrorist's place either. But then again, I knew too well that it was a mistake to judge from what you saw on the outside.
"How do you know Khaleel Rabbani?" I asked, crossing my arms in front of my chest. Julie frowned. "I don't know no Khaleel Rabbani." She looked seriously confused, but at the same time, it didn't make sense. She must have known him. "Yeah?" I questioned sarcastically. I pulled out my phone and showed her a picture of our suspect inside her car just a block away from Bashara's house. "Then why is he driving your car?"
Julie's eyes widened in surprise. "That's Faaiz," she said. Right. He was obviously using a wrong name. "Faaiz who?" I questioned, and she jumped at my tone of voice. She didn't seem too comfortable. "Faaiz Qasim. We have some classes together." I raised an eyebrow. "Classes?" She shrugged. She had no idea what I wanted from her. "I'm a chemistry student at Central Chicago University." Chemistry. Great. I grabbed my radio. "Hailey, you copy?"
"Go ahead." I took a deep breath, never taking my eyes off Julie as I spoke. "His alias is Faaiz Qasim, he's supposed to be a student at Central Chicago University." It took a second for Tracy to reply. "Copy. I'll see what I can find."
I focussed my attention back on Julie. "When did you last see him?" She shook her head. She had probably thought of her situation in the meantime. "What do you want from him?" she asked. "I'm not talking to you. Faaiz didn't do anything." I let out a frustrated sigh. "As of right now, we have no reason to believe you're involved in any of this. You help us, you won't get in trouble." She shook her head again. "Faaiz is a good guy."
"Julie, he's not," Lisseth spoke from the doorway. "He's most likely involved in the planning of a terrorist attack, and it's not his first." I turned around to Lisseth in slight surprise, I hadn't noticed her coming in. She glanced back at me. "House is clear." I let out another sigh. Khaleel wasn't here. Julie looked between Lisseth and me, clearly not believing a word we said. We needed to get her to talk, though. Right now, she was all we had. "If you don't help us, you're involved, too," I added. "That's as simple as it is."
Julie let out a desperate laugh. "You're insane," she commented. "I want a lawyer." I shrugged, trying not to seem bothered by her act. "If I'm insane, then why didn't Faaiz tell you his real name? It's Khaleel Rabbani, and he's wanted for planning terrorist attacks in Europe." I looked her straight in the eye, raising my voice a little in my best attempt to appear intimidating. "You want a lawyer?" I asked. "You'll get one. But after that, we can't help you no more." I glanced over at Lisseth and motioned to Julie. "Arrest her." Then I turned to leave, provoking just the response I had hoped for.
"You can't do that," Julie screamed. I stopped in my tracks and turned back to her. "I can." Lisseth was next to the woman by now and demonstratively pulled her handcuffs.
"I last saw him this morning," Julie blurted out. I immediately motioned for Lisseth to stop and Julie took a deep breath of relief. She was close to tears. "He slept here. He... He wasn't himself after he came back last night, but he wouldn't talk to me." She made a quick pause as the words seemed to be floating out of her mouth. "He left, maybe fifteen minutes before you got here. He had a brown duffel bag with him, one he brought yesterday. I don't know, I'm worried."
I took a deep breath. Wasn't himself. Brown duffel bag. "Julie, where did he go?" I pressed.
A tear rolled down her cheek. "He said that he was going to the university. That he had something to finish there." I couldn't wait any longer. "Take her to the district," I called out to Paddy and Marina, who nodded immediately. Then I motioned for Lisseth and LaRoyce to follow me.
"Please don't do anything to him. Please," I heard Julie call after us, but I didn't turn around again as I grabbed my radio. "5021 George, we need all available units to Central Chicago University. Potential terrorist threat, we'll send out a picture of the suspect. Evacuate the building, but if you see him, do not approach. Offender is armed and dangerous. Stand by for orders."
I got in the car and noticed Lisseth throw me a weird look as she got in on the passenger side. "Tracy?" I then asked, picking up the radio again. "Where the fuck is Central Chicago University? That's where we filmed the Infection crossover, right? Wasn't that actually an insurance building?"
"Yeah," Tracy replied immediately. "But it says here that it's Central Chicago University. It's real." I nodded, although she couldn't see me. "Okay." To be honest, it didn't even bother me at this point. Whether it was real or not, what did it matter? I was about to ask for an address when Tracy spoke up again. "I'll guide you." Without waiting a second longer, I switched on the car's emergency lights and took off.
When we got to the huge building with the glass front, its surroundings were already packed with police cars, ambulances, and fire trucks, and people were everywhere. I was startled for a second. I mean, this was what I called for, right? Potential terrorist threat. But still, it seemed surreal. There was no time to think about it, however. Khaleel Rabbani was in there somewhere, and he had to be stopped.
I got out of the car quickly, not bothering to close the door or lock it as I hurried over to an officer who was giving orders into his radio, Lisseth and LaRoyce following close behind. I pulled up my shirt slightly to show my badge as we approached. "Detective Jay Halstead, Intelligence." The officer nodded without me having to say anything else. "Building's almost completely evacuated. We've located the offender on the second floor." I nodded, rushing past him and towards the building.
"We got him," LaRoyce noted. "Slow down." I shook my head. "It doesn't feel right." Then something occurred to me. "What if he doesn't have the bomb on him? What if he planned for this to happen?" I felt my heart beat faster in my chest, and I grabbed my radio again. "Be advised, we're looking for a brown duffel bag, possibly outside the building, explosives might be inside." I glanced over at Lisseth. She swallowed hard. "Stay outside," I instructed LaRoyce. "We need a systematic search."
When Lisseth and I reached the second floor, a few officers pointed us to the room in which Khaleel was hiding. "Khaleel Rabbani?" I called out, coming to a stop in front of the door. "Detective Jay Halstead, Chicago PD. I need you to come out slowly, with your hands in the air."
"The hell I will," he shouted back from the inside. I took a deep breath. "Then I'll come in." Lisseth looked at me in shock and made a throat slitting gesture, trying to tell me that this was not a good idea.
"Stay where you are, or I'll blow the whole place up," Khaleel threatened. I closed my eyes for a second. It was hard to stay focussed and not think of all the times I had seen this happen before, seen things like this go wrong. I wouldn't let him do it. I wouldn't stand here and watch another time, one too many times.
"The whole place is empty," I said. "There's no point in blowing it up." I heard Khaleel laugh on the other side of the door. He definitely had a plan, and up until this point, it seemed to be working.
"Jay, we got the duffel bag," LaRoyce reported over the radio. "Bomb Squad's on it, and we're evacuating the area." I exchanged a glance with Lisseth. Good. "Time fuse," LaRoyce then spoke up again. Finally. The bomb was outside. Khaleel had no control over it.
"Last chance, Khaleel," I called out again. "Walk out with your hands in the air, or I'll come in." Lisseth kept shaking her head furiously, but I didn't pay attention. I knew we could have backed up, let patrol do their job and arrest Khaleel. He was no threat in himself right now, probably. But I wanted to be the one to go in there. I wanted to be the one to look into his eyes and put handcuffs on him.
I tried to get my breathing under control, but it remained unsteady. Bombs. Detonations. The smoke and the dust and the blood. People injured, dead, and unrecognizable parts of body parts scattered over the dirty ground. Too much of it. Too many lives lost. I closed my eyes in an attempt to shake the images from my head. Then I silently counted to three.
When I opened my eyes again, I moved in front of the door and kicked it open. Khaleel was looking out the window but he immediately spun around and pulled a gun on me. I didn't freeze. I simply didn't care. "Drop the weapon," I shouted, moving forward with mine pointed at him, ready to shoot. "Khaleel, drop it."
And then it happened.
Like in slow-motion, although it only took a split second.
I watched his finger move to the trigger, and I fired the same moment he did. Before I knew it, he was going down, and I felt an all too familiar burning pain. I dropped my gun and I managed to glance down at the blood, only barely understanding that it was mine. I couldn't breathe. I felt hot and cold. A striking pain, and at the same time nothing at all. My vision got blurry, and all I saw was a bright light from where the window was. Dizziness overcame me, voices and noises faded into a static that became louder and less tolerable by the second. And in the middle of it, a single thought crossed my mind.
I told Hailey I would stay safe.
I lied to her.
Then, everything turned black.
---
ooooops 👀 fun fact: it was NOT supposed to go this way at first, but after traley told jessay (shoutout to @Juu-story at this point for the name fusions because i keep forgetting to say that but i just really love them) to stay safe, my most loyal readers/comment-writers (also shoutout, you know who you are) said they felt like this was gonna go bad, and it made me realize that 1) this story has very little drama at this point and is kinda boring compared to what i usually write (idk, in certain circles i'm known for being cruel, so wtf is this?) and 2) the drama actually fits REALLY well here, so i couldn't stop myself... anyway, if you like drama, you're welcome, and if you don't, i can't say i'm sorry xD this is also the first time ever it frustrates me that this is throughout jessay's pov because i just really wanna write this next part for hailey... as always, let me know what you think in the comments! thank you so, so much for reading, and leave a vote if you like! ❤️